More Than WE Know

One of the areas that almost every Women Entrepreneur I speak to feels they should be doing more of, is Networking.  We know it’s important for our business’ growth and development, but since it is not urgent, it tends to get pushed to the bottom of our to-do lists.

Networking online can be less time-consuming than networking offline.  But it can also be hard to know where to start. And of course it can also be a bit scary.  If meeting new people online seems intimidating to you, then it might be better to start by using the internet to reconnect with people you already know but have lost touch with.  

One tool I recently became aware of is: The Online Alumni Community.  Since I attend many classes online, my first assumption was that it was an alumni community for people who attended school online.  But in closer inspection I found that its scope was much more broad.

It has groups from a wide variety of  colleges.  Some I took at closer look at were:

• Aakers College Alumni Group
• Howard University Alumni Group    
• Harvard University Alumni Group
• Stanford University Alumni Group

In addition to the group forums, there are also places to post messages, events, videos and questions.  There is also a place to post alumni blog entries.    

This almuni social networking site is new but there seems to be quite a bit of activity on it.  There are multiple videos scattered about and quite a few participants listed. Most of the participants appear to be within 10 years of college, which makes sense since it is appealing to people who are used to online sites like facebook and myspace.

As I’ve discussed in the past, the advantage of smaller social networking sites is that sometimes it is easier to develop more intimate and personal relationships. Many people have become disillusioned with the larger networking sites in which you find that you have thousands of “friends” without knowing who any of them really are.

Reconnecting with your old network can broaden your social circle. The more people who know about your business, the more opportunity you will have to grow and expand.

After reviewing Online Alumni Community, I would feel comfortable recommending it to women entrepreneurs who attended or graduated from college within the past 10 years or so.  It could be a good way to get back in touch with friends from the past or maybe even make new friends based on common interests.

I’d be interested in hearing your thoughts: How comfortable are you with networking online? Do you feel more comfortable with the idea of reconnecting with people you already know? What sites do you use?

(sponsored review)

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